By MONTE DUTTON

They’re hard to figure, this season’s Furman Paladins.

They have mysterious weaknesses. They have oodles of shooters, yet they are erratic in both three-pointers and free throws. They hung in gamely when beset by a rash of injuries, but they have struggled since mostly regaining their health.

Can they win the Southern Conference? Yes. In fact, I cling to the undeniably jaded belief that they will. Furman is ably coached. Bob Richey has assembled a team with size, shooting acumen and talent. No one is more dedicated to the task than Richey.

With the tournament in Asheville, N.C., less than three weeks away, work remains to be done.

The Paladins rolled into Lexington, Va., on Saturday and dutifully defeated Virginia Military, 90-72. Furman won a game it was supposed to. Asa Thomas led the way with 25 points, matching a career best, canning 8/16 shots (6/13 triples) and 3/3 free throws. He also had five rebounds and five assists.

Alex Wilkins has concentrated on being an able point guard, leaving the scoring to others. The facilitator, who has scored as many as 33 points in a game this season, scored eight points but committed only two turnovers and handed out six assists. He did, however, also commit five fouls, taking a seat with a minute to play.

Cooper Bowser scored 14 points, hitting all six of his shots and both his free throws. Charles Johnston provided 11 points and 10 rebounds.

T.J. Johnson led the Keydets (6-21, 1-13) with 26 points. Tan Yildizoglu scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Cal Liston scored 10.

Furman (17-10, 8-6 SoCon) snapped a three-game losing streak.

Take a look at the stats here.

Clare Coyle scored 25 points, and Alyssa Ervin buried a late three-pointer to break a tie game and lift Furman past UNC Greensboro, 63-61, in Southern Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon at Bodford Arena.

 Furman (16-10, 8-3 SoCon) completed the regular-season sweep of UNCG (13-13, 3-8 SoCon) and maintained a second-place tie with Wofford in the league standings. The Paladins return home to close the regular season with three straight contests at Timmons Arena, beginning next Thursday against Samford.

Furman, which fell behind 13-0 at the start of the game and trailed 31-24 at halftime, achieved its fifth second-half comeback win in league play and second against the Spartans, who led the Paladins 35-25 at intermission in Greenville on Jan. 15 before the Furman stormed back for a 69-56 triumph.

Coyle’s 25 points marked a new career high for the sophomore forward against NCAA Division I opponents and came on 12/20 shooting.  She also added nine rebounds and three blocks, including one of each on a UNCG’s next-to-last possession when, with Furman holding a 62-61 lead, the Spartans’ Mikiah Asidanya drove down the left edge of the lane and put up a shot, which Coyle deflected and gathered for the rebound with 14 seconds remaining.

Alyssa Ervin was fouled and drained the second of three free throw attempts to put Furman up, 63-61, with 12 seconds on the clock.  The Spartans’ Mia Simpson’s game-tying attempt from 17 feet missed as time expired.

 Ervin put Furman ahead for good when she broke free to the wing off an inbounds play and received the pass from Chantelle Stuart for a three-pointer to break a 59-59 deadlock with 1:36 remaining.

Raina McGowens joined Coyle in double figures, scoring 12 points to go along with eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.  The sophomore guard converted all six of her free throw attempts, including four in the decisive fourth quarter.

Furman shot just .328 (9/28) over the game’s first 20 minutes but found the mark in the second half, connecting on 15/30 shots, including 4/7 from deep.

Led by Asidanya’s 17 points, UNCG finished shooting .371 (23/62).

 The teams battled to a virtual draw on the boards, and both committed 12 turnovers.

Take a look at the stats here.

Former Presbyterian College head football coach Tommy Spangler, unexpectedly and inexplicably replaced in 2021 by the unlamented Kevin Kelley, has decided to call it quits after 42 years in the profession.

Spangler served a year as a volunteer assistant at Clinton High School, then spent four years coaching defensive backs and special teams at Furman.

Son Peyton is the head baseball coach of the Red Devils.

Tommy Spangler, who played for Vince Dooley at the University of Georgia, served separate stints as head coach at PC, 2001-06 and 2017-21, combining for a 54-52 record. After going 8-25 in the Big South after Presbyterian joined Division I, he was 4-3 in his final season during the COVID-shortened spring of 2021. PC did not enjoy another winning season until 2025, when Steve Englehart’s final team went 10-2 in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League. Presbyterian was in Division II during Spangler’s first stint, when he led them to a 42-24 record, reaching the second round of the playoffs after winning the South Atlantic Conference.

Men’s tennis held off the William & Mary Tribe, 4-2, in non-conference action Saturday morning at Coastal Carolina’s Stevens Tennis Complex.
Furman improved to 2-5 on the season and captured its 15^th victory in 17 meetings all-time against the Tribe. With the loss, William & Mary drops to 1-2.
The Paladins clinched the doubles point, taking an early 1-0 lead over William & Mary, following victories at No. 1 and No. 3. Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder got things started with their 6-2 victory at No. 1 over Oliver Hague and Gur Trakhtenberg, and Alex Han and Finn Pollard secured the point at No. 3 after their 6-3 triumph versus Nikita Bortnichek and Dylan Chou.

Furman followed in singles action with three wins at Nos. 1, 3 and 5. The teams traded the initial four matches with the Paladins claiming victories at No. 1 and No. 3. Following a win by the Tribe at No. 2, Duggal answered for Furman in the No. 3 contest defeating Bortnichek in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. William & Mary added a win at No. 6 when Snyder, playing at No. 1, contributed his second win this weekend, topping Trakhtenberg in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. 
Dispas clinched the match for the Paladins with his straight set win in the No. 5 match. The sophomore from Biot, France, recorded his second win of the season after going into back-to-back tiebreakers against Chou for the 7-6(5), 7-6(6) win.
Playing at No. 4, Walker Allen’s match versus Austin Cohen went unfinished with the score at 6-3, 4-6, 3-3.
Furman remains on the road next weekend, February 20-21, traveling to Richmond, Ky., for non-conference matches versus Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky.

The Paladins suffered a 6-1 setback to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in non-conference action Friday afternoon at Stevens Tennis Complex in Conway.
Furman drops to 1-5 overall while Coastal Carolina remains undefeated at 4-0.
The Chanticleers took an early 1-0 lead over the Paladins after winning at No. 1 and No. 3 to claim the doubles point. Jack Dixon and Eric Tripathi topped Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder at No. 1, 6-3, and Iannis Fernandes and Curzio Manucci captured the point at No. 3 with their 7-5 triumph over Alex Han and Finn Pollard.

Rivers Cahill and Christopher Norlin were leading their No. 2 match over Evan Duggal and Landon Ecarma, 5-4, when Coastal Carolina picked up the doubles point.
In singles, the Chanticleers recorded wins at Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to secure the victory. Tripathi got things started playing at No. 3 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Duggal, and Juan Cruz followed at No. 4 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Walker Allen. Dixon then added a 6-4, 6-3 triumph versus Theophile Joly at No. 2.
Snyder got the Paladins on the board at No. 1 following his second victory of the season. The sophomore from San Juan, Puerto Rico, defeated Norlin in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
The final two singles matches went into the third set with Dispas playing at No. 5 and Ecarma at No. 6. Ecarma took the first set of his No. 6 contest with Cahill before dropping the final two, 5-7, 0-1(2). Dispas also won his first set against Manucci, 6-1, when Manucci registered scores of 7-5 and 1-0(9) in the second and third.

Women’s tennis squares off against Memphis Sunday at 11 a.m. at Mickel Tennis Center.  The Paladins enter the match at 3-3 overall after falling to Mississippi State, 6-1, on Thursday.

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